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  • ToeJam & Earl (Sega Genesis)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/705371872570769408

    “ToeJam and Earl” was developed by Jonson Voorsanger Productions and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis in 1991. Words such as “quirky” and “offbeat” are often used to describe it. In any case, this action adventure games is certainly unique and if you were looking for something a little different than the typical action/platform games common at the time then this would certainly fit the bill.

    The main characters of the game who serve as your avatars are two funky aliens from the planet Funkotron. As you may have guessed, their names are ToeJam and Earl. They have crash landed on Earth and you may control either ToeJam or Earl (or both in a two-player game) as they search for the missing pieces of their spaceship so that they may return home.

    Though it may not initially strike you as such, this game could be considered an example of a roguelike game. It was heavily influenced by the 1980 adventure game, Rogue. Those influences include things like random level and item generation.

    While ToeJam an Earl may have been influenced by Rogue, it certainly adds its own unique flavor. It was quite a unique game for the time it was released. The game is played from a 3/4 perspective and the random level generation means that it never looks quite the same. These levels are portrayed as sort of floating islands of Earth in space. To reach the next level, you must find an elevator to take you there. Not only are the graphics unique but they are quite good as well. The same can be said of the music with the soundtrack being as “funky” as the rest of the game.

    Gameplay revolves around exploration and item collection. The ultimate goal is to find the ten pieces of the ship and return home. Standing in your way are various hostile “Earthlings” such as giant hamsters, aggressive packs of nerds, chickens armed with tomatoes, and even Bogeymen. As you can probably tell, there is an emphasis on humor with this game. There are also a few characters that will help you along the way and you can also defend yourself by throwing tomatoes or by other equally absurd means.

    While this game gets mostly very good reviews there was the occasional complaint. For instance, the game emphasizes exploration in such a way that the pace can be slow. However, whether that is a bad thing or not depends more on personal preference. At times, ToeJam and Earl can also be relatively difficult.

    ToeJam and Earl was successful during its time but not quite as successful as many other big titles on the Genesis. There have been a couple of sequels. The first was ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron. However, in part because of pressure from Sega, it abandoned the style of the original game and was more of a generic platformer. It still received good reviews and was still a commercial success but somewhat disappointing to fans of the original. Another sequel was planned for the Dreamcast but was not released. A beta version found its way onto the internet in 2013. There was a ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth released on the Xbox in 2002 which returned more to the original style but received mixed reviews and garnered poor sales. Finally, there was ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove which was released in 2019. However, this was more of an enhanced remake of the original than a sequel.

    There’s a good chance that you missed the original ToeJam & Earl if you had a Genesis back in the day. If so, you should remedy that and find a way to play this one. The original is still probably the best. I don’t know of any re-releases so you would have to track down an original cartridge or make do with emulation. However, it is well worth it.


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  • Advanced Computer Entertainment (January 1992)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Computer & Video Game Magazines – ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) – Issue Number 52 – January 1992

    ACE, which stands for Advanced Computer Entertainment was a gaming magazine published in the U.K. in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It covered both computers and consoles. Computer coverage in 1992 included the Amiga, Atari ST, and PC. The January 1992 issue includes:

    Columns

    • Games News – Spiderman’s 30th anniversary celebrated with a new arcade game and an upcoming movie from Sony’s Columbia Pictures; B17 Flying Fortress from Microprose coming soon; Gremlin producing sequel to Utopia; Sega starts bundling Sonic with the Megadrive; Japanese gamers camp out for Zelda III; expansion for Wing Commander II coming from Origin; Electronic Arts to release editor for Populous; Namco introduces Starblade to arcades; Bart Simpson, Terminator 2 and WWF Superstars coming to the Game Boy; and more.
    • Tech News – Spectrum Holobyte and W Industries (makers of the Virtuality arcade system) join forces to develop virtual reality games.
    • Letters – Letters from readers about the short length of some games, recent changes in ACE, the CDTV, rising software prices, big game boxes with little in them, and more.
    • In the Works – Previews of games that are in progress including Cyber Fight from Electronic Arts, ATAC from Microprose, and Apocalypse from Mirrorsoft (sort of an updated Choplifter).
    • Previews – Previews of soon to be released games including Bodycount from Strangeways, KGB from Virgin Games, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis from Lucasfilm, Populous from Bullfrog, John Madden’s Football (the first!) from Electronic Arts, Fire and Ice from Image Works, and Special Forces from Microprose.
    • Console Section – Reviews of Super E.D.F for the Super Famicom, Mega Man for the Game Boy, Super R.C. Pro-Am for the Game Boy (one of my favorite racing games though not necessarily the Game Boy version), Pac-Mania for the Megadrive, QuackShot for the Megadrive, Factory Panic for the Game Gear, and Woody Pop for the Game Gear.
    • Next Month – Coming in the next issue: the ACE Awards (plus the usual reviews, previews and more).
    • Reviews Directory – 30 pages of brief reviews for tons of games.

    Reviews

    • Another World – An arcade adventure game for the Amiga (version being reviewed), Atari ST and PC (DOS) that is reminiscent of Prince of Persia.
    • Epic – A 3D space shooter for the Atari ST, Amiga, and PC (DOS). Compared here to Wing Commander.
    • Populous II – Sequel to the classic Electronic Arts real-time strategy game for the Amiga, Atari ST, and PC (DOS).
    • Wolfchild – An arcade side-scrolling run and gun type game with a sci-fi theme for the Amiga and Atari ST.
    • Eye of the Beholder 2 – Sequel to the classic D&D RPG from SSI for the PC (reviewed here) and Amiga.
    • The First Samurai – An arcade martial arts themed adventure game for the Amiga (reviewed here), Atari ST, and PC (DOS).

    …and more!


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  • Super Street Fighter II (Sega Genesis)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    While somewhat subjective, it always seemed to me that Street Fighter II was the last really hugely popular arcade game. Sales numbers would seem to objectively back that up. Street Fighter II is second only to Space Invaders and Pac-Man in terms of number of arcade machines sold. Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II are also high on the list but they don’t really come close to Street Fighter II. The original Street Fighter II sold 60,000 machines (Street Fighter II Championship Edition sold even more at 140,000 machines). By comparison, the Mortal Kombat machines only sold in the range of 20,000 to 30,000 units. See https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/the-25-best-selling-arcade-games-of-all-time.htm for more sales info. Part of this of course comes down to the decline in the popularity of arcades as home systems finally caught up. 16-bit systems were close but 32-bit systems were arcade perfect or so close to it that it didn’t matter.

    Being one of the most popular arcade games, Street Fighter II was also one of the most anticipated home conversions of all time. This was in the 16-bit era of home gaming so home systems were significantly less capable than arcade machines at the time. It was all about how close to arcade perfect you could get but there were always some sacrifices. Graphics quality, sound quality, and even game play on home systems were usually at least somewhat below arcade standards.

    Nintendo managed to get the first home conversion on the Super Nintendo system. The Super Nintendo had better graphics hardware than the Genesis but it also had a slower CPU. Many early games on the Super NES suffered from problems with slow-down when a lot was going on on-screen at the same time. As programmers became more familiar with the hardware, this became less of an issue over time.

    While the Genesis version was not quite as graphically impressive as the Super Nintendo version, it did have a few advantages. First, it did not suffer from slow down as much as the Super NES version did. This wasn’t a huge problem or anything…more of a relatively infrequent mild annoyance. The Genesis kept more of the background animations as well but it suffered from a poorer color pallet and lower quality sound. The standard Genesis controller also didn’t have six buttons which was pretty crippling, however, plenty of aftermarket controllers were available (see below).

    One challenge with the home conversion of Street Fighter II and its sequels was the controller. The arcade version used a joystick and two rows of three buttons. The Super Nintendo controller actually had enough buttons though they weren’t really arranged in the ideal way for this game. Other systems didn’t even have enough buttons. Needless to say, this spawned an entire market in various six button controllers.

    While not arcade perfect, this arcade conversion was probably the most impressive there had been up to that point. Even to the casual player today, this version is perfectly fine to play instead of the arcade version. Of course, these days you can emulate the arcade version or play arcade perfect conversions on newer systems. It’s still worthwhile to check out the Super NES or Genesis version or even the other conversions at the time to see how impressive they were considering the hardware they were running on. Whether you prefer the Genesis version of the Super NES version probably comes down to what system you owned. Most people owned one or the other and were pretty fanatic about it. The system wars were a bigger deal then than now. While I prefer the Super NES version (that was the system I owned at the time after all), the Genesis version is solid too.

    It can also be a little confusing when you say ‘Street Fighter II’. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior was the original and this version was ported to the Super NES. Genesis didn’t get a version until Street Fighter II: Championship Edition. Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers was an even later version that was on both systems. However, the comparisons above generally apply to all variations of Street Fighter II.

    Screen shots above are from the Genesis version of Super Street Fighter II.


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